Cousin in Town
by tofu-rox
Summary: When Sam's punk cousin Melrose comes to visit Sam and Melanie, she instantly conspires with Carly to get Sam and Freddie together. SEDDIE MULTI-CHAP! written in collaboration with ma friend Caramel!
1. Chapter 1

(Freddie's POV)

"Come on, Fredweird!" Sam screeched, banging on the door to my apartment. I rolled my eyes. Typical Sam. "We were supposed to meet my cousin at Build-A-Bra fifteen minutes ago!"

"Whatever! Why am I even coming?!" I opened the door to see Sam chewing on a piece of beef jerky.

"'Cause, my cousin, like my nub of a sister, wanted to meet you!" She growled. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine! But I'm not going into Build-A-Bra!" I retorted.

"Yes you are." Sam stated before dragging me out of my apartment.

After a smelly car ride with Sams' mom, we got to the Seattle mall. Sam had threatened to break my arm if I didn't come into Build-A-Bra with Carly and her, so I did. It was the girliest place in the entire mall, with the walls a bright, almost neon pink. I think the only un-girly thing I saw was one of the customers.

Well, if you could call her a customer. Her hair, cut into choppy layers, was dyed several different colors, including green, orange, purple, and a clearly bleached white. Her outfit, a pair of black pants and a black Tee shirt with a band I've never heard of on the front. Looking at her again, I noticed a tattoo of some sort peeking out from the short sleeve of her shirt. She looked bored and generally unenthusiastic. For whatever reason, I went up to talk to her as Sam and Carly disappeared somewhere into the pink store. The girl couldn't have been any older then I was.

"Uh, hi." I introduced myself nervously.

"Hey," The girl replied with a gentle wave of her hand. "I'm Melrose. Call me Rosie."

"So... not to be rude, but what are you doing in this store?" I asked, but immediately clapped my hand over my mouth. Now Melrose, er, Rosie, was sure to hate me. Looking at her face, I realized she was pretty cute. Her hair curled slightly, framing her face in the exact same way as Sams' hair did. She must've realized I was staring at her (A/N: no shit!) because she looked at me sideways.

"Actually, I'm waiting for my cousin; I'm supposed to meet her here. And quit staring at me like a pervert!" She replied. Looking over my shoulder to another part of the store, her face lit up. "And there she is!" She smiled, waving to the person behind me. I turned around to see Sams' face glowing with happiness.

"Melrose!!" She smiled, pushing me out of the way. Sam and Melrose hugged. "Oh, and Rosie, this is Fred-wonka." I glared at Sam, ready to shoot a witty comeback when Rosie extended her hand.

"Nice to meet you." I said, shaking her outstretched hand. She smiled, although it was an unenthusiastic I-really-couldn't-care-less-what-your-name-is smile

(Melrose's POV)

"Well, if we're done with introductions... should we get going?" The girl name Carly asked. Sam shrugged.

"Uh, sure," I replied, "But were are we going?" Carly laughed.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to introduce you to my older brother, Spencer," She explained nervously. I smiled.

"Sure." I replied.

And she did. After Aunt (*insert name here*) drove us the the Bushwell apartment building, we took the elevator up t the eight floor. On the way, Sam and Freddie were arguing on whether an avacado was a fruit or vegetable I just rolled my eyes and sucked it up. Sam had warned me in an e-mail she sent before I got here that Sam and Freddie fought a lot. Although "a lot" was an understatement.. Those two fight like an old married couple!

Like I said, I just rolled my eyes and smiled. I was sure they would stop fighting once we got to Carly's apartment. I was right! A very large... something... was covered by a neon green bedsheet. Everyone stopped to stare at it for a minute before we got out of the elevator. I saw the first to speak as we all stared. "What... is it?" I asked, dumbfound. Everyone shrugged, so I just walked over and plopped down on the multi-colored couch. I could feel Freddie's eyes watching me. Even in the elevator, I noticed his eyes kept darting over to me. Well, most likely my multi-colored hair.

Just then, a man with paint splattered in his hair, wearing shorts and very colorful knee-high socks came into the room.

"Hey Carly, Sam, Freddie, and person I don't know!" He said cheerfully. Carly turned around and gestured to me.

"Spencer, this is Sam's cousin Melrose. Melrose, this is my older brother Spencer," She explained. I felt Spencer's eyes looking me up and down, as if tryig to decide if I was okay to come in the house or not.

"'Nice to meet you" I said casually, with a slight wave of my hand. Awkward!!! I though.

"Uh, nice to meet you, I guess," He said slowly. I rolled my eyes.

"Cool socks." I commented. His face lit up.

"Thanks!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two!!! Oh, Rosie's ring tone is Teenagers by My Chemical Romance (c) not me (but that would be so cool)**

**If I owned iCary, I wouldn't write fanfictions, now would I?**

**And, yes, I hate Twilight. Deal with it.**

**______________**

Melrose's POV

So, it's been about a week since I came to visit Sam. I was sitting in the hallway, waiting for them to finish up the iCarly segment for this week. I turned my iPod off for a second as I heard the 'Random Dancing' music and saw flashing lights coming from inside the studio.

'That should just about do it," I thought, as I opened the glass door with "" on it. As soon as I did, however, I realized I made a mistake. Carly was in the middle of saying her line when I had come in, so she improvised with: "Um, hey, everybody! Uh, we have a surprise guest with us today. Everyone, say hi to Sam's cousin, Melrose!" Freddie turned the camera towards me. I held up two fingers in a 'peace' sign, exclaiming loudly:

"What's up, people?" I walked over to stand next to Sam, who whispered 'What are you doing here?' I whispered back 'Sorry! I thought you were done!'

"Okay!" Carly interrupted, clapping her hands. "Well, that wraps up the show for tonight so, until next week... I'm Carly!"

"I'm Sam!" Sam said, smiling to the camera.

"And I'm Melrose!"

"See Ya!" We all said in unison. Freddie backed up, still pointing the camera at us.

"Aaaand... We're clear!" He said as the red light on his camera went off.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, Freddie's POV

I was sitting on Carly's brightly colored couch, watching cartoons when I heard someone behind me.

"Hey Freddie," A voice called from behind me. I turned around to see Melrose, her crazy-colored hair tied back into a loose ponytail, walking towards me.

"Hey Rosie." I replied, moving over on the couch so she could sit down. "Sam left something in the iCarly studio, and Carly's in the bathroom; she'll be back in a minute." I watched the chains on her pants clink against one another as she walked over and sat down next to me. In many ways, I envied her. It seemed odd to envy my close friends cousin, but I did. it wasn't really her personality I envied (she was violent and rude, just like Sam!) but her freedom. With my mother constantly shitting me with hygiene and crap all the time, I was jealous of her freedom to dress, act, and cuss people out all she wanted. (Just this morning, she told Lewbert to 'f off and go to hell'. It was pretty funny to see)

"So Freddie... I was wondering. Would you like to go out with me this Friday?" She asked quickly, fumbling with her hands as she spoke. Her question took me by such surprise I had to wait thirty seconds before I could speak again.

"Uh... Sure, why not?" I answered. "But where would we go?"

"Hm... We could go dancing, the mall,uh, OH! We could go see movie they based off the vampire/romance book and make fun of what a terrible story it is!" She sounded most enthusiatic about the last one. The one thing I noticed about her was that she was enthusiastic about a lot of things, whether it was an obsession or a hatred, it was always 110%. It was pretty funny.

"Let's go to the movie." I laughed. "You really hate Twilight, don't you?"

"Yeah!" She replied with a smile, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. The ringtone was a song I didn't recognize, but I was sure I had heard the song before.

They're gonna clean up your looks

With all the lies and the books

To make a citizen out of you...

Melrose flipped open her cell phone. "Hello?" She said into the receiver. "Uh huh... Yeah... Okay. See you at home, Sam."

"That was Sam?" I asked. Wasn't she upstairs? How'd she get home-

"She climbed out the window." I realized, the same time Melrose explained it to me. "We have beef jerky at home." She explained. Sigh... Sam would never change, would she...

Little did I know, the camera Socko had set up for Spencer (to show Carly how evil Chuck was) was still set up, and Sam had seen the whole thing.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Da Da Da!!!! Cliffhanger (sorta). How will Sam react to Melrose's date with Freddie? How will the date go? And why did Cary take so long in the bathroom, geez! You'll find out in the next chapter!!**

**Please R&R.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three! Woo!**

**iCarly (c) not me**

**Sorry if some things are OOC. . .**

* * *

(Sam's POV)

I was lying in bed, chewing on some long-forgotten beef jerky, with some of Rosie's heavy metal music blaring from my speakers. I had listened to these songs so many times, I knew the words by heart. I couldn't help thinking of Rosie as the songs played louder and louder.

'How could she ask Freddie out? I mean, I know he's funny and . . . AUGH! STOP IT!' I thought to myself, mentally kicking myself for thinking that. I was humming along quietly to the Job For A Cowboy song as I just barely heard the front door creak open. Not a minute later, Melrose's crazy hair and black chain pants appeared in the doorway. I rolled over and paused the music, my ears ringing immediately.

"I'm back," Melrose announced.

"No, really? I thought you were abducted by aliens and forced to live on Mars," I replied sarcastically.

"Ha ha," Rosie deadpanned.

"So . . . Anything new?" I asked, trying to see if I could subtly bring up the date into the conversation.

"Well . . . yeah," She looked down, her face a light shade of pink. "So, uh, y'know Freddie?" I nodded, my heart pounding nervously loud, as if the simple sound would somehow avoid the truth. "Yeah, I sorta, uh, asked him out. . . er, yeah." Rosie had never been good at hiding the truth, and always stuttered when she was talking about something embarrassing.

"You asked him out?! Why would you ask out that dork?" I asked, pretending to be surprised. Melrose shrugged, and I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "D-did he say yes?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. The stammer the first word of my sentence seemed to be unnoticed by my cousin.

"Yeah," She answered simply. Nothing more than a 'yeah', which was fine by me. I didn't get a chance to ask anything else, because, just then, my mom, yet again wearing naught but a plaid bikini, opened the door.

"Girls, dinner's going to be ready soon . . . Oh, have either of you seen my bikini? The one with the polka dots?" She asked, her eyes glancing from me to Melrose, as if either of us knew the answer.

"Nope, sorry Aunt Sara," Melrose answered quickly. Unsatisfied, my mom left the room, muttering something about 'never having the bikini she wanted' or something. Suddenly, Rosie turned to me. "So does she always wear bikini's, even in winter?"

"Yeah. It's pretty annoying, isn't it?" I replied. Mom was always wearing bikini's everywhere: to mall, the grocery store, and even to a rock concert! My cousin's eyes darted to the floor.

"At least she's sober. . ." She muttered quietly. A painful silence grew as we thought of her mother, who was almost always drinking, and drunkenly beat the living shit out of Melrose all too often. Her life was never a happy one. . .

**(Flashback time!)**

'Rosie?' I called softly. I was in the doorway to her room. I couldn't have been older than eight. All the lights where off, and the only sound was that of a small girl crying. Melrose. My eyes scanned the dark room, and I could just barely make out Melrose's dark figure huddled in the corner. As soon as I did, however, I ran over to her, my arms outstretched. Her black t-shirt and flowy skirt were torn in several places.

'Sam? Sam!' She cried as I reached her, wrapping my small arms around her comfortingly. 'Sammie . . . Mama hit me again. S-she was walking around like the drunkard she is, cursing the foulest names at me . . . Sammie, I'm scared. . . Mama . . .' She added some foul adjectives after 'Mama'. Words no eight-year-old should know. But Rosie did. Rosie knew. Rosie was a scared, broken child from the beginning. Nothing would change that.

'Shhh . . . It's okay, Rosie. Everything's okay,' I crooned as I felt hot tears stinging my eyes. Even today, apart from Carly, Rosie was the only one I was comfortable crying in front of. This time was one of many that Melrose's mom had come home drunk, and beaten her. She was almost too stable to have lived through all that. . . Almost.

**(End seriously short flashback)**

I had realized that day that I had a good life compared to her. I had a best friend, a sober mother, meat, and . . . I had Freddie. Kind, sensitive, sweet Freddie. I smiled, remembering how he let me hit his backpack when I was pissed off, even though it would hurt him . . .

Freddie Benson, I think I love you. . .

* * *

**End Chapter Three**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four.**

**iCarly (c) not me**

* * *

(Friday, Melrose's POV)

I checked my watch again: 7:45. Freddie said earlier that I should meet him at the Bushwell Plaza at eight. He mentioned something about his mom wanting to meet me, to make sure I wouldn't 'hurt his little Freddie-bear' or something. I felt sorry for Freddie, with such an overprotective mother like her. But I still couldn't help but be jealous . . .

A loud knock on the door interrupted my could-have-been-totally-depressing thoughts. I heard Sam's muffled voice from the other side telling me she was coming in. I cursed under my breath; I still had to finish getting dressed, so I picked up my outfit from Sam's messy bed and covered myself with a towel before telling Sam she could come in. She came in wearing plaid shorts and a loose t-shirt, eating a large, fatty piece of bacon happily.

"Sho," She said to me, with words garbled due to her mouth full of pigskin. "Are shoo eshited for shur date?" I pulled my black shirt on over my head, followed by my worn-out leather jacket Melanie had given my for Christmas a few years ago. I winced slightly as the cool leather touched my skin, I had a relatively new, black snake tattoo running down my arm, along with a 'love bruise' from my mom. I turned away from Sam to face myself in the mirror: My curly, rainbow hair was tied back into a make-shift bun, I had on a knee-length black skirt and knee-high leather boots.

"Aren't you going to wear, I don't know, color?" Sam joked and I turned to her. She had finished her bacon pretty quickly, and I wasn't surprised. She loved meat.

"Ha ha," I deadpanned. "I'm going to be in a dark movie theatre for two and a half hours, so why should I care whether or not I wear colors?" My cousin stuck her tongue out at me. "Well, how do I look?"

"You really think I should be the one to judge that?" She asked me, as if I was a complete idiot to even consider talking to her about looks. "You should ask Carly when we get there."

"Oh yeah, how are we getting there? Your mom doesn't exactly have her license . . . " I commented.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Spencer's driving us."

"Spencer's Carly's brother, right? The dude with the cool socks?" I laughed. Spencer did have some cool socks, you have to admit. Sam laughed and nodded. I checked my watch yet again. 7:50. Time to go.

* * *

(Bushwell Plaza, Carly's POV, 7:55)

Sam and Rosie should be arriving soon. I'm actually pretty surprised Freddie actually said yes to a date with Rosie, I mean, I really doubt his mom would approve. But hey, if Freddie's happy, I'm happy. Just as I thought that, Sam and her crazy cousin entered the building. Was Rosie wearing make-up? I never really saw Rosie as a 'make-up' type of person, date or no date, but I couldn't really be sure, I'd only talked to her a few times. I looked her up and down, trying to pick out any flaws in her outfit I could fix to make her night better. I couldn't find any, and my eyes wandered to Sam. She looked pretty bored, like she didn't really care about being here, but I saw something else flickering in her eyes for a moment, but what it was I couldn't quite place.

"Hey hey, Carls," Sam announced. I rolled my eyes; She had bacon in between her teeth. "Is Fred-wartface here yet?" Oh Sam, will you ever stop teasing Freddie? No, probably not.

"Not yet," I answered, and turned to Melrose. "So Rosie, what movie are you seeing?"

"Only the worst movie on the face of the planet," She replied. Twilight, of course. "So, uh, do I look okay?"

"You look great," I smiled.

"Thanks," There was a bit of a silence that followed, and I glanced down at my shoes. Whoops, one of my shoelaces was untied. I bent down to tie it as Freddie and Mrs. Benson entered the plaza. Freddie was wearing just a hoodie and "Galaxy Wars" T-shirt, and some jeans.

_______________

(Freddie's POV)

Carly, in a short jean skirt and tight top, was tying her shoe, Sam was getting bacon out of her teeth and Melrose was just standing there nervously. Rosie did look pretty, in her leather jacket and skirt. I felt myself blush as she looked up at me. I heard my mother clear her throat behind me.

"Mom, this is Rosie," I introduced. My mother looked her up and down. "Rosie, this is my mom."

"It's v-very nice to meet you, Melrose," My mother choked out, sanitizing her hands before holding them out for Rosie to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you, too, Mrs, Benson," Rosie replied, shaking my mothers hand before taking off her jacket. Rosie had a tattoo? Oh great, Mom's not gonna like that.

"Oh, my, you have a . . . tattoo, my dear," She stuttered, and turned to me, pulling me away from Rosie. "Freddie, dear, do you really think this . . . date is such a good idea, I mean, there are plenty of other girls who would love to-"

"Mom, please. It's just one night, and I'm sure Rosie won't do anything illegal," I said calmly. Mom took another worried glance at Sam's cousin.

"All right, but if anything happens, you need to tell me straight away, okay honey?" She bit her lip.

"Okay, Mom, promise," She wrapped me in a tight hug, and much to my embarrassment, kissed me twice before letting me go. I walked over to Rosie, who was twirling her thumbs nervously. Spencer, who had just walked in, said loudly:

"Well come on lovebirds, let's go!"

"All right, Sock Man, we're coming," Rosie called. Spencer's eyes lit up when she called him 'Sock Man'. We walked out to Spencer's car, Carly, Sam and my mom watching us every step of the way.

* * *

**Oh yes, End chapter.**

**Whatcha think?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**iCarly (c) Not Me**

* * *

(Later, Melrose's POV)

We got to the movie theatre at about 8:15, so we had fifteen or so minutes before the movie started. Since I bought the movie tickets, Freddie promise he'd buy the popcorn.

"So," Freddie began as we sat down at a table, munching on the buttery popcorn. "You like staying with Sam?"

"Shit yeah, it's wicked awesome," I answered happily. Oh crap, time for the movie. I glanced at Freddie and we entered the theatre. It was nearly empty, save for a few people in the front row, so we decided to sit in the way back, away from everyone else.

The move itself was even more horrible then I thought it would be. The only thing remotely interesting or entertaining was all the things Freddie and I found to make fun of during the movie. Who knew a "spineless dork-wad nub," as Sam called him, could have such good insults? Well, me apparently. During a particularly mushy/romantic/lame scene, I could've sworn I saw Freddie staring at me out of the corner of my eye, so I turned to him and blushed.

"Uh, I wasn't staring at you," He denied. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure you weren't," I teased, but let the matter drop.

After the movie, Sock Man showed up to drive us home. After a few minutes of silence, he looked at me through his backseat mirror. "Hey, isn't that funny?" He commented.

"What is?" I asked, a bit surprised by the outburst from the otherwise silent chaffeur to mine and Freddie's date.

"Well, there are two 'Mel-s' in your family, Melanie and Melrose."

"Yeah, well, I was named first, by m-my dad," I suppose neither of them noticed I choked, so I kept talking. "Melanie's a few months younger than I am." Freddie waited until we were out of the car to say anything.

"So, Melanie did exist?" He asked incredulously. I remembered Sam and Melanie mentioning it over e-mail the phone last time I managed to get on the computer.

"Unfortunately. Mel's Sam's rich, snotty, smart, vegan twin." I scoffed. God, I hated that girl. Freddie shook his head, dismissive.

"Well that makes two Puckett's I've kissed," He muttered, loud enough I couldn't pretend I didn't hear it. He must've seen my face, because he flushed. "I- Sorry I should've asked." He stuttered.

"No, it's fine," I insisted, a little hurt. "She told me she liked you, and she had a bet with Sam . . ."

"So it was Melanie?" He asked, laughing.

"Yeah, that was Melanie," I laughed as we reached the front door to Freddie's apartment. I looked down at my tattooed arm for a second, and looked back up to see Freddie standing so close to me could feel his soft breath on my face.

"Well this," He began, his lips brushing against mine so lightly, for a long, sweet second, my heart beating fast beneath my chest. "Was Freddie." I looked deep into his eyes, deepened the kiss for a second, turned away, blushing like mad, and walked away.

"Good night," I whispered as I heard his apartment door creak open.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**iCarly (c) Not Me**

* * *

(Later, Freddie's POV)

Holy. Crap. Melrose kissed me. And I . . . I liked it. I licked my lips a little, tasting her chapstick and something else I couldn't quite place. I felt myself begin to blush, and I knew I must have been grinning like a love-struck idiot, but I didn't really mind. Melrose was sweet. I could still taste her on my lips. Sweet . . . Like Sam. Wait- What?! Did I just think that Sam was sweet? No, no, no, Sam was a blonde headed demon! Carly was nice and kind and sweet! Sam was rude and violent and doesn't care about you, Fredward! You couldn't possibly like . . . Sam, could you?

"You don't like Sam," I muttered under my breath. Just then my mom came into the apartment, carrying a couple brown grocery bags in hand. Why on earth would she be shopping at this time of night?

"What did you say, sweetie?" She asked, putting the grocery bags down and wiping off my face with a cool disinfectant wipe. "Oh, you have some butter on you lips." She stepped back. "Wait . . . did you have any fattening butter popcorn? You KNOW I don't like that, Freddie!" She turned away dramatically. "Oh Freddie, soon you'll be a lazy underachiever who doesn't get into college and has to live on the streets like a hobo. . . "

"Mom, it's fine, really. It was just popcorn," I lied. It was Melrose's chapstick, but I wasn't exactly going to be the one who told my mother that I had kissed a 'crazy punk', as I heard Mom referring to Melrose as, on the first date. Much less I wanted to tell her I kissed Sam's cousin. "I'm going to bed."

"Oh, okay. Just remember to shower and sign the shampoo agreement!" She called after me as I raced to me room. Like hell I'd be going to bed now. I needed time alone to think. I could almost feel the impact of Melrose's lips against mine. There was a spark there, a small one, but just enough. I forced myself back to the time when I saved Carly's life, when we were kissing all the time for days. She was the girl of my dreams I had wanted her as my girlfriend since I first met her . . . But now, I could almost hear the doubt creeping into my mind. No, I suppose I was over Carly now. The spark was gone, I had realized it actually the last time she kissed me, on the cheek. Her lips tingled and tasted like strawberry, but I didn't feel a spark. Not any more.

And then there was my first kiss, with Sam out on the fire escape. It wasn't a quick kiss, like most of mine with Carly. My eyes were closed when our lips met, but in my mind's eye I could still see her, her curly hair, that little pink headband resting behind her ears, even her nervous green eyes that had been looking at me as I leaned. I felt her eyes close after a couple seconds, her eyelashes batting against my skin lightly. And that was went I felt the spark. Yeah, there was a spark, I could remember now. I didn't want to admit it then, I only pushed my feelings deeper inside, forced them up only when I turned then into feelings for Carly.

Once upon a time, when we were all duct taped to a chair in Carly's apartment, she had asked us if we liked the kiss. Unfortunately, neither of us got to answer because Spencer had come in looking for his banjo. At the time, I probably would have said 'no'. Carly seemed jealous, and I didn't want to hurt her. But I imagined how Sam must feel if I did. I know she doesn't hate me, no matter what she says. But could she, you know, like me? I mean in that way. She'd feel totally worthless if I had said no. But that didn't matter, if Carly gave us a chance again, I would answer yes without missing a heartbeat.

* * *

(Saturday, Melrose's Point of View)

"Wake up!" Someone yelled at me angrily, breaking apart the deep fog of my dreams in an instant. Mother! No! I winced under the covers, expecting a pain to echo from somewhere on my body. My eyes were squeezed shut, but I could hear someone's footsteps coming towards the bed. "Come on, get up." The voice said again, softer this time. I could tell by the rustling of sheets and creaking of the floorboards that the figure, not my mother, I realized with a sigh of relief, had turned around.

"Yo, Freddie," It was Sam, I recognized. Why did that sound like my mother? Darn it. "Maybe you should kiss her, so she can wake up and we can get to the mall!"

"Maybe I will," He shot back, even though she was being sarcastic. My heart skipped a beat. Freddie was here? With Sam? And they weren't dead yet? Ah man, what time was it? Another figure crossed the room and lay each hand on either side of me. I tried my best to stay still, even though I was pretty sure he guessed I was already awake. I could feel him lean in closer to me, I could feel his warm breath on my face. I held my breath, and his lips brushed mine so gently. I didn't bother to open my eyes, but I kissed him back a little bit so he knew I was awake. We lay there for a few more seconds, taking in each other's taste, before Freddie backed up and I opened my eyes. Sam looked like she was about to retch. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Sam blinked and I saw her eyes glistening for a moment, but she blinked again and the tears were gone.

"Morning," I tried to sit up, only to have my tank top pulled down a bit farther than I wanted. I wasn't wearing a bra, so I quickly adjusted it and sat up fully. "So why are you here, again?" I rubbed my eyes sleepily, pretending I had just woken up when they both knew I hadn't.

"We're meeting Carly at the mall in like twenty minutes, so get up and get dressed!" Sam whined. I shrugged and got off the bed, watching Freddie watch me as I went to the dresser. "Fredastupid, you have to leave." She glared at him. He raised his eyebrows and put his hands above his head as if to say 'I'm gone, I'm gone.' Right as the door clicked shut behind him, I pulled out a bra, t-shirt and faded jeans. I didn't bother to turn around or have Sam leave, I just tore off my shirt and clicked my bra on behind my back. "So how did the date go?" She asked curiously and I inspected my jean for bloodstains. If I remembered correctly, these were some of my worst jeans, in the sense I was wearing them when Mother was roaring drunk and angry.

"It was . . . nice," I tried to search for a better word. I had fallen asleep as soon as I got home, and screened an violent call from my mother, who had no idea I was here in the first place.

"Did you two, you know . . . kiss?" She barely whispered the last word, looking down at her feet.

"Yeah," I answered casually. "Why? Jealous?" It couldn't be that Sam was jealous, could it? But I could tell she was, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. She glared at me like she was ready to rip my head off, though I knew she wouldn't. She knew all too well how much my mother was ready to do that anyway. She watched me closely, staring at my stomach like she could burn a hole through it with only her eyes. But I knew better; Sam was straight and there were black and blue discoloring near my shoulder, naval, bra line and hip. My snake tattoo covered the worst one, but the swelled hump on my arm was still plain to see. Sam and I were totally comfortable with each other, ever since she first saved me from my mother's boozed up and shaking fists. It never matter to either one of us if we talked in a full, fluffy snow suit or totally naked. Okay, that was an understatement. I'd care if Sam wanted to talk to me naked, that would be a bit too weird.

"Want some cream for that? I got a first aid kit here," She gestured to my bruises and pointed towards the wall. Of course she did, she always did. She could beat up the football team.

"No it's cool, they're healing," I smiled reassuringly.

"Healing, right," She muttered. I gave her a look that told her to drop it. "Anyway, how was the date? And more importantly, how could you stand to be alone in a dark theatre with him for two hours?" I rolled my eyes.

"The date was fine, we made fun of the stupid movie the whole time. And Freddie's not that bad, Sam." It was my cousin's turn to roll her eyes.

"Dude, he's a nerd!"

"Dude," I mocked. "He's sweet." I heard her mutter something like 'I know'. "What was that?"

"Nothing," She answered a bit too quickly.

"Psh, you can tell me if you like Freddie, honest I wouldn't let him know," I sat back on the dresser, the drawer handle pressing into my back lightly, such a small pain I could barely notice.

"Okay . . . I think Freddie's a dipthong," She smirked. But a cute dipthong, nonetheless, her eyes told me. I knew she would never, ever tell anyone but me, not even Carly. It would make things too complicated if even her best friend knew. Especially if Freddie knew, she figured.

"I'm cool with that," It was true. Sam's eyes were always more expressive than her words. She liked Freddie, that was plain to see. Freddie was sweet and kind and non-judgemental. He'd be better for Sam than he would be for me, even though I did really like him, I could tell Sam was the one who needed him more. I just needed Sam when it really mattered, and that was all. I paused, trying to figure how to word exactly what I wanted to say next. It avoid and awkward silence, I slipped a long sleeved fishnet shirt over my head and the same loose black jeans on my legs. There were a couple bloodstains I could never get out, but they were faded and unless you knew what you were looking for you couldn't tell they were even there. "What would you say to me finding out if he likes you?"

"Uh, no," She answered immediately. "I just told you he's a dipthong." Typical, insecure Sam. But I stuck to my word and didn't tell. She glanced at her wrist. Sense when did Sam wear a watch?

"Where'd you get the watch?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, uh, Freddie gave it to me for Christmas," She blushed again. She took a deep breath and put on her brave face. The face she showed the world. It was a part of her, she was always brave and violent, but she was still as insecure as ever other girl her age. "Come on," she urged, dismissing the subject. "It's time to go." She pulled open the door and marched out into the hallway, grabbing some beef jerky from the napkin dispenser she had rigged to give her meat.

Freddie was sitting in a nearly broken chair near the door, waiting for us. He looked pretty casual, a plain white t-shirt hung loosely around his frame, just tight enough to show he had some muscle, and we just had one some faded jeans. He smiled when he saw us, calling us over with a wave of his hand.

"Let's go to the mall," He announced, standing up and taking my hand in his. Sam glanced over at me from her beef jerky, her eyes flashing loneliness before snapping back to the confident way they always were. To compensate her dreading feelings of being left out, I made Freddie reach for her hand, too. Her eyes were happy I could understand. Happy and confident. It was real confidence, I could tell by the way her back straightened just a little bit.

"We're walking?" I asked stupidly. I hadn't expected us to get there any other way, though.

"Yeah, Mom's busy," Sam answered from the other side of Freddie's head.

"Okay, to the mall!" I cheered and karate-kicked open the door.


End file.
